Microsoft tax still hitting 360 accessories

The new 250GB prorprietary hard drives in the 360 slim are just normal laptop hard drives.... in a plastic casing.

So they take the same latop hard drives they use in more or less anything with a hard drive these days, and then encase it in a piece of plastic (which just snaps on... no screws or fixings or anything like that) which is all they need to make it a 'proprietary' hard drive and stop you buying one anywhere else.

As of right now, the same laptop hard drive used in the new 360 can be purchased from buy.com for $50. When put in a magical microsoft plastic shell however, it becomes $120.

I like my xbox. I love so many games released for it. I just wish it were made by a different company.

LINKAGE

....in a plastic casing.

So they take the same latop hard drives they use in more or less anything with a hard drive these days, and then encase it in a piece of plastic (which just snaps on... no screws or fixings or anything like that) which is all they need to make it a 'proprietary' hard drive and stop you buying one anywhere else.

As of right now, the same laptop hard drive used in the new 360 can be purchased from buy.com for $50. When put in a magical microsoft plastic shell however, it becomes $120.

I like my xbox. I love so many games released for it. I just wish it were made by a different company.

LINKAGE

Ninja-Hippo

so are the HDD's for original 360

Gotta love Microsoft!DragonfireXZ95

....in a plastic casing.

So they take the same latop hard drives they use in more or less anything with a hard drive these days, and then encase it in a piece of plastic (which just snaps on... no screws or fixings or anything like that) which is all they need to make it a 'proprietary' hard drive and stop you buying one anywhere else.

As of right now, the same laptop hard drive used in the new 360 can be purchased from buy.com for $50. When put in a magical microsoft plastic shell however, it becomes $120.

I like my xbox. I love so many games released for it. I just wish it were made by a different company.

LINKAGE

Ninja-Hippo

[QUOTE="Ninja-Hippo"]

....in a plastic casing.

So they take the same latop hard drives they use in more or less anything with a hard drive these days, and then encase it in a piece of plastic (which just snaps on... no screws or fixings or anything like that) which is all they need to make it a 'proprietary' hard drive and stop you buying one anywhere else.

As of right now, the same laptop hard drive used in the new 360 can be purchased from buy.com for $50. When put in a magical microsoft plastic shell however, it becomes $120.

I like my xbox. I love so many games released for it. I just wish it were made by a different company.

LINKAGE

88mphSlayer

so are the HDD's for original 360

Well they do have a monopoly on there products ever notice no one can make a "boot legged controller" unless it says "official licensed by MS".Fightingfan

[QUOTE="DragonfireXZ95"]Gotta love Microsoft!Ravensmash

[QUOTE="DragonfireXZ95"]Gotta love Microsoft!Ravensmash

[QUOTE="DragonfireXZ95"]Gotta love Microsoft!Ravensmash

Some might want to upgrade.

Oh well, what can you do, huh?

Thats MS for yeah. Milking the consumer. I wonder though is it possible to break off the casing and force your own new hardrive into it.

[QUOTE="DragonfireXZ95"]Gotta love Microsoft!Ravensmash

[QUOTE="Fightingfan"]Well they do have a monopoly on there products ever notice no one can make a "boot legged controller" unless it says "official licensed by MS".Ninja-Hippo

I thought that 360 drives were solid state. If they are, that explains the price.

EDIT: hmmm, maybe not. I have no idea anymore. :P

You can't blame them for locking the system down and overcharging for everything they can overcharge for, Apple has being doing it for years.

Considering that MS pricing strategy for the different 360 models is based around the size of the HDD, that's to be expected.

I like their hard drives, it's easy to snap off and snap on to any other console. It sucks they changed it up but I knew they were going to make a new design for their HDD. I'm not holding my breath but it would be nice if you can use the same HDD next gen. I'm glad they at least add a USB way of storing though.

[QUOTE="Ravensmash"][QUOTE="Kokuro_Kun"]Problem is as TC said. Basically you cant go grab a 2.5HDD from best buy and upgrade you Xbox HDD, like you can on the PS3. Its very easy to do and much more cost effective for the consumer, but MS seems to think otherwise.Kokuro_Kun

I like their hard drives, it's easy to snap off and snap on to any other console. It sucks they changed it up but I knew they were going to make a new design for their HDD. I'm not holding my breath but it would be nice if you can use the same HDD next gen. I'm glad they at least add a USB way of storing though.

gago-gago

640 GB, SATA 3 Gb/s, 8 MB Cache, 5400 RPM

=

120 dollars

You can't blame them for locking the system down and overcharging for everything they can overcharge for, Apple has being doing it for years.

Snagal123

[QUOTE="gago-gago"]

I like their hard drives, it's easy to snap off and snap on to any other console. It sucks they changed it up but I knew they were going to make a new design for their HDD. I'm not holding my breath but it would be nice if you can use the same HDD next gen. I'm glad they at least add a USB way of storing though.

Ninja-Hippo

Considering that MS pricing strategy for the different 360 models is based around the size of the HDD, that's to be expected.

IronBass

[QUOTE="Ninja-Hippo"][QUOTE="gago-gago"]

I like their hard drives, it's easy to snap off and snap on to any other console. It sucks they changed it up but I knew they were going to make a new design for their HDD. I'm not holding my breath but it would be nice if you can use the same HDD next gen. I'm glad they at least add a USB way of storing though.

gago-gago

[QUOTE="IronBass"]

Considering that MS pricing strategy for the different 360 models is based around the size of the HDD, that's to be expected.

Respawn-d

Ps3 cost the same amount and have a bluray drive inside yet they still offer the consumer the chance to buy there own hardrives Respawn-d

That's because Sony love gamers so much.

Now, seriously, it's because a) the PS3is stillmore expensive than the 360, they have tojustify that higher priceas much as they can and b) they're in third place, they can't afford being restrictive.

Problem is as TC said. Basically you cant go grab a 2.5HDD from best buy and upgrade you Xbox HDD, like you can on the PS3. Its very easy to do and much more cost effective for the consumer, but MS seems to think otherwise.Kokuro_Kun

But the 250gb drive comes standard with the console (which is selling at the same price as an elite). It's not going to be necessary for the average/majority of consumers to need more than 250gb.Ravensmash

This is the problem.

I'm a serious consumer of content, I buy quite a few games, movies, etc.. in a year. I have the 20gb Xbox 360, and have no intention of paying an outrageous price to get more storage space. Paying $100 to get a new hard drive, or $150 to go to the Xbox 360 slim seems foolish when I can just add more hard drive space to my PC and get *far* better deals on STEAM. A stupidly high price for 250gb or $70 for 1000gb, which makes more sense?

MS has competition, and that competition gives its media-heavy users the option to upgrade. The heaviest users of LIVE will consume more than 250gb of content. What then? Do you force them to pay out the nose for extra hard drives? Why not simply allow them to buy the biggest hard drive available on the market and use it? What's the harm? By locking people into MS' tiny (250gb is nothing for someone downloading full games and HD movies) drives and inflated prices, they discourage people who would otherwise buy more content on LIVE from making those purchases.

Remember, part of the success of services like STEAM comes from people being able to buy on impulse. "Man, Overlord and Overlord II for only $4.50? Why not?". If you have to make them stop and think "okay, how many demos do I need to delete to make room? Do I need to delete those episodes of Lost I downloaded? But wait..." they might not buy it in the first place.

if the HDD really IS just a laptop drive with a special casing you can expect a work around to it by some modders/hackers within a month or two.

[QUOTE="Ravensmash"][QUOTE="DragonfireXZ95"]Gotta love Microsoft!mysterj

Some might want to upgrade.

You know its a console right? Before this gen nobody cared about loosing money on extra items but all of a sudden, everyone thinks a console is a pc just waiting to be upgraded.

Heck how about all the memory cards people have laying around from all the last last last gen consoles?? GOD I probably have 1000$ in memory cards. Thats part of the game.

Bill Gate's wife needs to feed those starving kids in Kenya dude. Don't hate! ;)

[QUOTE="Respawn-d"]Ps3 cost the same amount and have a bluray drive inside yet they still offer the consumer the chance to buy there own hardrives IronBass

That's because Sony love gamers so much.

Now, seriously, it's because a) the PS3is stillmore expensive than the 360, they have tojustify that higher priceas much as they can and b) they're in third place, they can't afford being restrictive.

[QUOTE="mysterj"]

[QUOTE="Ravensmash"] If it works and comes with the console...what's the problem?!VanDammFan

Some might want to upgrade.

You know its a console right? Before this gen nobody cared about loosing money on extra items but all of a sudden, everyone thinks a console is a pc just waiting to be upgraded.

Heck how about all the memory cards people have laying around from all the last last last gen consoles?? GOD I probably have 1000$ in memory cards. Thats part of the game.

MS are **********terds, they ALWAYS try and rip you off.

Third place in sales because they launch the PS3 a whole year after the 360. Sony is not justifying the price. The problem with the PS3 is ignorant people or not well informed ones that doesn't know all the features they have. The first year it didn't had great games and was not well advertised.soulreaper-4

[QUOTE="soulreaper-4"]Third place in sales because they launch the PS3 a whole year after the 360. Sony is not justifying the price. The problem with the PS3 is ignorant people or not well informed ones that doesn't know all the features they have. The first year it didn't had great games and was not well advertised.IronBass

Which doesn't give Microsoft the right to overcharge consumers. Also ps3 shipped with a standard drive bay FROM LAUNCH ( a time they thought they had won) Origami_Kill3r

Actually MS have all the right to charge whatever they want for their products (they fact that they do it kinda proves it).

It's up to the consumer to choose what's the best for him.

Well the Xbox 360 is a console so you should expect to have proprietary accessories for it. I guess they just want to differentiate from PC gaming. It was only this gen, where a console began to use PC universal 2.5-inch SATA notebook hard disks I believe. You just have to remember these are gaming consoles. I guess MS just wanted to make their hard drive easier to use for their average consumers. You can basically snap on and off their hard drives with ease and no screws to unscrew and such.